The apple soda from the convenience store that day flashed before her eyes once again.
By now, Jiang Zong would no longer categorize this kind of thing as a mere coincidence. Lin Shuxue harbored far too many secrets that he knew nothing about.
He let out a soft sigh, just about to mock the situation.
Then he heard Lin Shuxue say in a gentle voice, “I heard that eating candy can relieve cigarette cravings. Do you want to try it?”
Jiang Zong froze. So, the addiction she understood was a nicotine craving.
A dense, swelling ache rose from the bottom of his heart again. It felt like disappointment.
Familiar amusement curved the corners of his lips, and he asked in a husky voice, “What’s in it for me if I try?”
Immediately after, he fell into a warm, soft embrace.
The contact ended as soon as it began.
Lin Shuxue was clearly very inept at doing this sort of thing. Within just a few seconds of contact, the rims of her ears uncontrollably began to heat up, and even her gaze turned evasive as she looked at Jiang Zong.
His Adam’s apple bobbed. Laughter rippled from his chest as he leaned his body backward against the wall. That cigarette, which had gone unlit for a long time, finally tumbled to the ground.
His pitch-black gaze was like water, rippling with glints of starlight.
“What should I do? It seems I’ve fallen for you a little.”
A second ago, Lin Shuxue was still feeling vexed over whether her action had been a bit too bold; the next second, her brain completely shut down, stunned by Jiang Zong’s words.
“Ah? Then, then do we count as liking each other mutually right now?”
She felt as though her mouth and her brain had completely disconnected, utterly unaware of what kind of gibberish she was spouting.
Within her line of sight, Jiang Zong smiled even more unrestrainedly. His alluring eyes curved into a single line, the corners of his mouth upturned, and even his shoulders were shaking.
The cigarette lying on the ground had been stepped on by someone at some point. The tobacco leaves inside spilled out, bringing a complete end to its short and sorrowful life.
She heard Jiang Zong say with a lingering smile as he leaned down to brush away a strand of hair falling over her eyelashes, his voice husky.
“Why don’t you say that we count as dating right now?”
Lin Shuxue’s motion of looking up froze in mid-air, her stalled brain slowly grinding into motion. Oh right, liking each other mutually, isn’t that exactly what dating is supposed to be?
Are we really going to start dating this quickly?
All her limbs grew stiff. Those bright, deer-like eyes seemed fixed in their sockets, as if she had forgotten how to roll them. Her peripheral vision remained fixed on the man before her. Words welled up in her throat several times only to be swallowed back down; she still couldn’t think of anything she ought to say.
What do people do when they date? Is just a hug not quite enough? The kiss that had ground to a sudden halt in the piano room that day flashed across Lin Shuxue’s mind, making her unaccountably nervous.
A warm touch seemed to come from the top of her head. It was Jiang Zong gently patting the head of the little girl who had been silent for a long time, his throat dry.
“Just teasing you.”
He unwrapped the packaging of the fruit candy. The lime-green candy was held between his teeth. The unique sourness and astringency of the apple-flavored candy enveloped his mouth, spreading through his internal organs. He bit down hard with his teeth, crushing it. The shards of hard candy cut the tip of his tongue, drawing a trace of a bloody taste.
Jiang Zong seemed completely oblivious to it, letting the wound on the tip of his tongue press against his teeth.
He stuffed the cigarette pack back into his pocket. His silhouette looked clean and graceful as he raised his wrist, lazily saying to a certain little girl who was still dazing on the spot.
“Let’s go.”
Upon returning to the private room, Pei Tianyang’s ghostly wailing and howling still hadn’t ended. Jiang Zong’s patience was entirely exhausted, so he asked Guan Zhiyu which songs remaining on the playlist were ordered by Pei Tianyang.
Guan Zhiyu was clearly also suffering deeply from the torture of the demonic voice, so she confessed everything in one go.
Very cleanly and decisively, Jiang Zong deleted every single one of those songs.
By the time Pei Tianyang finished singing this highly passionate rendition of Rare True Brothers, he discovered that the next song, his favorite, Madame Luxiang had turned into a K-pop dance track. Only then did he learn that the premium playlist he had meticulously selected had been completely wiped out by his brother without a word.
Lin Shuxue felt her ears were much quieter now.
The person currently holding supreme power over the microphone was He Xicun. Her usual speaking voice was somewhat sweet, but it turned out her singing voice was entirely different from her speaking voice, imbued with a full-blown mature, elder-sister aura. She could also effortlessly nail that string of Korean lyrics with accurate pronunciation.
Meng Shuyin frantically shook the hand drum provided on the table, cheering with high spirits, “Sister is so handsome!” “Sister, I’m so down for you!!”
Meanwhile, Pei Tianyang, who had been forcefully muted, was arguing his case, attempting to win the pity of his Brother Jiang to return to the stage.
It was very obvious that the word “pity” had absolutely nothing to do with Jiang Zong himself. His eyelids drooped, and he didn’t put on a pleasant face: “I came here to relax, not to subject my ears to torture.”
Under Pei Tianyang’s soft and hard pestering, Jiang Zong laid down the law: “Either let me keep singing, or you go sing a song!”
Jiang Zong lazily lifted his eyelids, his tone light and playful: “Sure.”
After saying that, he pulled out his phone and scanned the QR code to order a song.
See that he was actually going to sing, Pei Tianyang’s jaw nearly dropped in shock.
Instead of taking the handheld microphone handed over by He Xicun, Jiang Zong walked over to the small platform where the stand microphone was placed. He leaned sideways against the wall, his broad-supported and narrow-waisted physique outlined by the hazy lights. With his long legs bent and relaxed, he rested one hand lightly on the mic stand, his gaze soft.
A soothing, lyrical prelude began to play.
Lin Shuxue had originally thought that a person like him would prefer listening to rock music.
She hadn’t expected it to be a Cantonese song.
“Achieving things like I do might be too forced / While every single person like you feels an itch / Knowing clearly you didn’t hint at it, it was just my imagination”
He usually spoke very lazily, his articulation and phrasing feeling as though they were floating in the sky, which would give people a false impression that he was frivolous and untrustworthy. Only when he sang did one realize the truth.
Jiang Zong’s voice was deep, belonging to the highly magnetic type. Even though it was a Cantonese song, his Cantonese pronunciation lacked the awkwardness typically heard when someone strictly forces Mandarin into Cantonese.
His sharply contoured profile, paired with those eyes that looked deeply affectionate even when staring at a dog, made it even harder for people to look away.
“How many all-nighters must I pull before I’m willing to wake up and let the fever break / I cannot love you, yet I just cannot leave, stop joking / Feeling nothing, my soul is dragged away by you / Lingering by your side, I beg and wait to be received”
She didn’t know if it was just Lin Shuxue’s illusion, but she felt that when he sang this line, Jiang Zong, whose gaze had been looking straight ahead, seemed to let his eyes fall upon her with a slight touch of grievance for a few seconds.
Guiltily, she touched her nose.
Fortunately, the others didn’t notice. He Xicun silently marveled at how standard Jiang Zong’s Cantonese sounded.
Pei Tianyang shared in the glory: “Of course! Last summer break, Brother Jiang was invited to HKU to participate in a project experiment and stayed there for a month. That professor at HKU, whatever his name was, didn’t forget to invite Brother Jiang to do his postgraduate studies under him before he left!!”
“That amazing?” Meng Shuyin was a little skeptical. She had always questioned things related to Jiang Zong.
Pei Tianyang gave two snorts, indicating he wouldn’t stoop to the level of these anti-fans.
He added: “Furthermore, when Brother Jiang just started university, he worked as a bar singer. This amount per gig!”
Pei Tianyang flashed four fingers at them.
“Four thousand?” A few of them were shocked.
Pei Tianyang gave a profound, mysterious smile and said nonchalantly: “Forty thousand.”
“That much.” The group gasped one after another.
Pei Tianyang was proud: “It wasn’t that much at the beginning. Later, the boss discovered that the effect of him taking the stage was simply too good, the customer traffic quadrupled compared to usual so it was raised to this price. It’s a pity Brother Jiang stopped going later on.”
“Why?”
Pei Tianyang: “Later, he entered the lab to do projects with his advisor. He didn’t have the time to go!”
“Starting to follow projects since freshman year?”
The music paused for two seconds. Jiang Zong let go of the stand mic and walked over to the sofa where he had originally been sitting.
Pei Tianyang said sheepishly: “Not singing anymore, Brother Jiang?”
Jiang Zong glanced at him with a half-smile: “Not singing anymore. I’m afraid if I keep singing, you’ll expose even my primary school report cards.”
The gossip came to a screeching halt.
The crowd dispersed all at once.
Lin Shuxue remained seated in the corner the entire time.
She felt the sofa sink slightly beside her as strands of orange blossom fragrance slipped into her nose.
“How come I didn’t hear you sing?”
Jiang Zong lowered his eyes and asked.
Lin Shuxue shook her head: “I’m tone-deaf; my singing sounds terrible.”
Considering the only piano piece she could think of was Two Tigers, her musical accomplishments were quite obvious.
Jiang Zong: “Then why did you still agree to come to the KTV with them?”
Lin Shuxue smiled gently: “It’s just very fun when everyone is together.”
Jiang Zong confirmed repeatedly: “You don’t find it boring?”
Lin Shuxue suddenly realized that he had mistakenly thought she was merely compromising to go along with other people’s wishes. She quickly explained: “No, I like being an audience member.”
Jiang Zong raised an eyebrow: “You’re even willing to listen to someone like Pei Tianyang?”
Lin Shuxue paused for a moment. After a brief hesitation, she still decided to be realistic, pursing her lips and shaking her head: “That kind is an exception.”
The music just happened to reach an interlude when Pei Tianyang’s murderous voice floated over.
“Hey, you guys whispering over there, personal attacks are prohibited!”
Lin Shuxue’s eyes curved with laughter. Those eyes of hers, which were usually clear and cold all day long, were dyed by the orange-red lights of the KTV, adding a few hints of vividness.
Jiang Zong and his group left the resort early the next morning. They had arrived a day earlier than Lin Shuxue, and Jiang Zong’s advisor’s side had temporary new project tasks.
According to Meng Shuyin’s initial plan, the two parties were not supposed to meet.
No wonder Chen Feng, the manager of the resort, hadn’t given this pair of joyful foes a heads-up in advance.
Lin Shuxue and her group played at the resort for two days. After experiencing a series of outdoor sports like horseback riding and archery, they returned to school with aching backs and sore legs.
With the vacation balance running low, the two roommates didn’t plan on going home either, dragging their sluggish bodies to lie on their dormitory beds for two whole days.
This was all the retribution brought on by their usual dislike of exercise.
On the last day of the National Day holiday, He Xicun found out from somewhere that the school was hosting a sports culture festival warm-up basketball match. Coincidentally, today was the opening game: the School of Automation against the School of Science.
Meng Shuyin, who was still crying out about her aching shoulders and painful legs a second ago, sat straight up from her bed instantly.
“Let’s go! Let’s watch the basketball match!” Her eyes shone with light, completely full of energy.
He Xicun couldn’t help but facepalm and complain: “It seems an 180cm male university student is more useful than a medicated patch.”
Meng Shuyin changed her clothes in the blink of an eye and prepared to put on makeup. Hearing this, she turned her head to counter: “Wrong! I do this out of a love for sports!”
Lin Shuxue was thus wheedled and dragged to the basketball court by her roommates, still carrying three cups of milk tea they had just queued up to buy.
Although it was a match announced on short notice during the holiday, quite a few students who stayed on campus had gathered in twos and threes in the stands to watch the excitement.
“So many people love sports?” Meng Shuyin couldn’t help but express her awe.
He Xicun spoke sarcastically: “Uh-huh, they all love it just like you do.”
The three of them found a slightly emptier spot to sit down. When they passed by a certain girl, they inexplicably felt that the look she cast over was rather strange.
It wasn’t until they sat down that they remembered.
“Hey! Wasn’t that girl just now you-know-who?” Meng Shuyin blinked frantically.
Lin Shuxue: “Who?”
Meng Shuyin slapped her thigh hard: “It’s Xu Ya!”
Reminded by her, He Xicun’s reaction arc dragged out a long “Oh!”
Although Lin Shuxue didn’t want to pursue the matter, someone else clearly didn’t possess such a good temper. Because of a “system bug,” Xu Ya’s post accidentally leaked her actual real-name information very quickly.
Xu Ya’s pursuit of Jiang Zong wasn’t a secret normally; the students in their class could all tell. After all, she asked around everywhere for Jiang Zong’s class schedule and itinerary, and many people had also seen her delivering milk tea that day.
At this moment, once the real names were leaked in the post, the netizens who had been swayed by the trend instantly woke up. Realizing they had been used as pawns, they quickly reversed the direction of the wind and began a round of sarcasm toward Xu Ya. Before long, Xu Ya deleted the post slinkingly.
The official operation explained it as a bug, but Lin Shuxue knew in her heart that even if it were a bug, it couldn’t be such a coincidence. Most likely, Jiang Zong had made a move behind the scenes.
Meng Shuyin: “After making such a huge fool of herself, I thought she wouldn’t dare step out of the door.”
He Xicun said thoughtfully: “So that’s why she wore a mask, right?”
The two of them burst into successful laughter together.
Yet, a commotion came from the crowd below.
A boy walked down from the direction of the rostrum. Taking off his trench coat, the sleeves of his shirt were rolled up to his upper arms.
From their angle, they could only see the top of his head and his back silhouette; they couldn’t see his face clearly.
Meng Shuyin couldn’t help but gossip in a low voice: “Who is this? Their popularity is so high.”
As a gentle, cool breeze blew past, Lin Shuxue brushed away the strands of hair in front of her forehead. The boy happened to turn around at that exact moment.
His eyes locked right onto Lin Shuxue’s line of sight.
Jiang Zong.
On the side, Pei Tianyang ran down from the rostrum trot by trot: “Come, come, come, let me hold the coat for you, Brother Jiang.”
Who would have thought that his Brother Jiang seemed to see something interesting; his eyes lit up for an instant, and half of his lips curved up. Draping the taken-off trench coat over the crook of his arm, he walked straight up toward the stands.
Ignoring the surrounding gossip and stares, his expression was completely natural.
Meng Shuyin, who had just been questioning what kind of person could trigger such high popularity, quickly shut her mouth upon seeing Jiang Zong walking over. He Xicun was a beat slow in her reaction, pointing at Jiang Zong’s figure as she spoke.
“Hey, that looks like Jiang”
“Keep this for a bit, I’ll take it later.”
Jiang Zong tossed the clothes in his arms onto Lin Shuxue’s lap, his movements smooth as flowing water.